# Beer Season!



## txmatt (May 22, 2004)

This time of year is excellent for beer. There is a store near my In-Law's house that carries a great variety of beer and I picked out two amazing seasonal beers on Sunday afternoon. If you can find either of these, I highly recommend them:

Bell's Brewery Hopslam Ale - a tremendous hoppy ale that has a bit of sweetness to balance the biting bitterness. Much smoother and more balanced than most ales that hopheads like me crave. I hope they keep making this!

Great Lakes Brewery Christmas Ale 2006 - If you thought last year's Christmas Ale offering was good wait until you try this one! It is lighter in color and less "chewy". The flavor coats your mouth like syrup yet it isn't as thick as many Christmas beers. This tasty beer breaks the "beef stew in a bottle" mold that most Christmas season beers are made, yet still has the classic notes of cinnamon and nutmeg. I will try to get some of this unchilled to bring back to Texas with me..

If you run across any greats this season please suggest them; it is Beer season!

-Matt-


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## Commander Quan (May 6, 2003)

I'm really not a fan of the Great Lakes xmas Ale I bought a six pack last year and just drank the last bottle a couple weeks ago. I REALLY like most of their other beers, I could drink the Edmund Fitzgerald Porter for breakfast lunch and dinner. One beer I highly recommend is St. Nicolas Bock from the Penn Brewery in Pittsburgh. It can be a hard one to find outside of western PA but worth the search, and if you do happen to find some get some Penn Weizen too you won't be sorry.


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## oddball (Feb 14, 2006)

Looking forward to Anchor Steam's X-Mas Ale this year :dr
Apparently, they use a different recipe every year.


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## Bigwaved (May 20, 2006)

Living in a micro brew heavy town, I too, look forward to the winter/holiday brews that make their way on to the menu.


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## tiptone (Jul 30, 2006)

Matt, have you had the St. Arnolds Christmas Ale? It's also not really thick and "chewy". The GLB Christmas Ale sounds nice, never heard of it before.


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## Steve (Jan 18, 2006)

Have I ever mentioned that I like beer?


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## neoflex (Jan 3, 2006)

I was looking for Brooklyn Breweries Pumpkin Ale, just because it sounded interesting, but seems I was a day late and a dollar short as usual. ( They stop distributing it around Nov.14. I will have to see if any of teh beer distributers by me carry any of the brands and blends you mentioned. Thanks for the tip!


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## cb25 (Jun 12, 2006)

Sam Smith's Winter Welcome Ale -- pretty good stuff.


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## hornitosmonster (Sep 5, 2006)

[No message]


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## dayplanner (Dec 11, 1997)

txmatt said:


> Bell's Brewery Hopslam Ale - a tremendous hoppy ale that has a bit of sweetness to balance the biting bitterness. Much smoother and more balanced than most ales that hopheads like me crave. I hope they keep making this!


 Really looking forward to trying this as I am a Bell's freak. Haven't seen it around here yet, but it is supposed to be on the way.

I did pick up some Bell's Hell Hath No Fury Ale this evening. Quite good and packs a punch as the name indicates. It's a very dark amber with more hoppiness than you would expect from an amber beer. It also has that dense sweetness characteristic of some barleywines -- but not excessively so and it doesn't suffer from the lack of balance of many high alcohol content beers. It's 7.7% -- high, but not as high as Two Hearted or the Sparkling Ale.

According to the Bell's site, Hopslam and Hell Hath were only produced in October. Hopefully, they are both to be recurring seasonals.

Now, if they'd only bring back Trumpeter Stout. :c

Come on, Larry!


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## tecnorobo (Mar 29, 2005)

I was thinking when I saw this... Isn't every season beer season


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## txmatt (May 22, 2004)

tiptone said:


> Matt, have you had the St. Arnolds Christmas Ale? It's also not really thick and "chewy". The GLB Christmas Ale sounds nice, never heard of it before.


Will have to look for it. There are times chewy Christmas ales are good too..

I am back in Texas for the next 3 weeks, but I am definitely going to bring back some Bell's and GLB stuff (perhaps a few cases :al ) when I am up in Ohio for Christmas.


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## ResIpsa (Mar 8, 2006)

txmatt said:


> Will have to look for it. There are times chewy Christmas ales are good too..


Be happy you don't live in NY. Apparently Christmas Ale labels offend the powers that be.....

State sued over ban on Christmas beers 
Liquor Authority ruled labels on English brews too attractive to kids 
By *ALAN WECHSLER*, Business writer 
*Click byline for more stories by writer.* 
First published: Thursday, November 23, 2006 
ALBANY -- Forget about buying Rudolph's Revenge Winter Ale, Seriously Bad Elf Double Ale or Santa's Butt Winter Porter, at least in New York. 
The State Liquor Authority has banned the sale of these and three other Christmas-themed English beers because the labels are too attractive to children. And now, the Massachusetts-based distributor is suing the state over the decision. 
In papers filed Tuesday state Supreme Court in Albany County, the decision was characterized as a violation of federal freedom-of-speech rights and the state's own liquor laws. 
"The Liquor Authority decided, in its infinite wisdom, that these labels had to get banned," said George Carpinello, a lawyer with Boies, Schiller & Flexner LLP in Albany, who filed the suit. 
The distributor is Daniel Shelton of Shelton Brothers in Belchertown, Mass., which imports and distributes beers from around the world. The company serves customers in 45 states, but with relatively small batches. 
On Oct. 3, a representative for Shelton submitted the six Christmas-themed beers to the Liquor Authority for approval, as required under state law. The others were Warm Welcome Nut Brown Ale, Very Bad Elf beer and Criminally Bad Elf barley wine. 
The labels were not especially gratuitous. Seriously Bad Elf depicts a mischievous-looking elf pointing a slingshot at Santa's airborne sled. Warm Welcome shows Santa descending a chimney -- into a roaring fire. 
On Nov. 3, Shelton was told over the phone by the SLA that the labels were denied because "the Christmas themes ... would appeal to children," according to the suit. 
The suit points out that nearly 12 Christmas-themed beers already exist in New York, including Samuel Adams' Old Fizziwig Ale and Anchor's Merry Christmas and Happy New Year beer. 
"The authority's purported concern ... ignores the fact that there are numerous beers and labels that clearly have appeal to teenagers, who form the primary group of underage drinkers, not 6-year-olds who believe in Santa Claus," the suit added. 
Carpinello sued -- and beat -- the SLA in 1998 over another banned beer, Bad Frog, which sported a label that showed a frog making an obscene gesture. The suit asks for the denial to be reversed and for damages and legal fees. The SLA could not be reached for comment Wednesday afternoon.


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## BitchesBrew (Sep 5, 2006)

I've always liked the seasonal variety 12 packs offered by Saranac, and the 
Celebration Ale by Sierra Nevada each year. Lindeman's rasberry framboise is 
always a popular crowd pleaser for Christmas and New Year's parties. I'm 
stocking up on a few extra bottles now, because it always seems to be in 
short supply right before New Year's.


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## adsantos13 (Oct 10, 2006)

Even though its generally a more summer-ish kind of beer, I just cant get enough Hoegaarden lately. Those those wheat beers :dr


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## Demented (Nov 7, 2006)

I've always thought if there was weather it was beer season!

Walked into Big-5 one day while living in Hollywood, told the kid working in sporting goods I wanted a Tourist tag. After he'd spent a few minutes looking through the books I just walked away.

Beer season, tourist season, it's all the same.

Dmntd


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